English

A tree rewriting system for the Reflection Calculus

Logic 2024-07-19 v1

Abstract

The ReflectionReflection CalculusCalculus (RC\mathcal{\mathbf{RC}}) is the fragment of the polymodal logic GLP\mathcal{\mathbf{GLP}} in the language L+L^+ whose formulas are built up from \top and propositional variables using conjunction and diamond modalities. RC\mathcal{\mathbf{RC}} is complete with respect to the arithmetical interpretation that associates modalities with reflection principles and has various applications in proof theory, specifically ordinal analysis. We present TRC{\sf TRC}, a tree rewriting system that is adequate and complete with respect to RC\mathcal{\mathbf{RC}}, designed to simulate RC\mathcal{\mathbf{RC}} derivations. TRC{\sf TRC} is based on a given correspondence between formulas of L+L^{+} and modal trees Tree{\sf Tree}^{\Diamond}. Modal trees are presented as an inductive type allowing precise positioning and transformations which give rise to the formal definition of rewriting rules and facilitates formalization in proof assistants. Furthermore, we provide a rewrite normalization theorem for systematic rule application. The normalization of the rewriting process enhances proof search efficiency and facilitates implementation. By providing TRC{\sf TRC} as an efficient provability tool for RC\mathcal{\mathbf{RC}}, we aim to help on the study of various aspects of the logic such as the subformula property and rule admissibility.

Cite

@article{arxiv.2407.13619,
  title  = {A tree rewriting system for the Reflection Calculus},
  author = {Sofía Santiago-Fernández and Joost J. Joosten and David Fernández-Duque},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2407.13619},
  year   = {2024}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-28T17:46:11.913Z